Role of quantum fluctuations in a system with strong fields: Spectral properties and Thermalization

Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

36 pages, 19 figures, version to appear in Nucl. Phys. A

Scientific paper

In a previous work [arXiv:1009.4363], we have studied the evolution of a scalar field with a quartic coupling, driven by a classical source that initializes it to a non-perturbatively large value. At leading order in the coupling, the evolution of this system is given by classical solutions of the field equation of motion. However, this system is subject to a parametric resonance that leads to secular divergences in higher order corrections to physical observables. We have proposed a scheme that resums all the leading secular terms: this resummation leads to finite results at all times, and we have observed also that it makes the pressure tensor of the system relax to its equilibrium value. In the present paper, we continue the study of this system by looking at finer details of its dynamics. We first compute its spectral function at various stages of the evolution, and we observe that after a fairly short transient time there are well defined massive quasi-particles. We then consider the time evolution of the momentum distribution of these quasi-particles, and we show that after a stage dominated by the parametric resonance, this distribution slowly evolves to an equilibrium distribution. Interestingly, this distribution develops a transient chemical potential, signalling the fact that number changing processes are much slower than the elastic ones.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Role of quantum fluctuations in a system with strong fields: Spectral properties and Thermalization does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Role of quantum fluctuations in a system with strong fields: Spectral properties and Thermalization, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Role of quantum fluctuations in a system with strong fields: Spectral properties and Thermalization will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-4639

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.